‘You sold out’: WWE erupts as 23 years of history erased

An unthinkable move from WWE legend John Cena has left fans of the 16-time world champion utterly flabbergasted.

John Cena has done what was once unthinkable.

The 16-time world champion and longtime WWE baby-face, who is on his year-long retirement tour, has finally turned heel by aligning with The Rock and rapper Travis Scott to doublecross Cody Rhodes in front of a stunned crowd at Rogers Centre to end the Elimination Chamber PLE on Saturday.

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It’s uncharted territory for Cena and WWE. Consider that no one has granted more “Make-A-Wish” wishes than Cena.

“The thing I’m excited for is watching John perform this,” The Rock said in the post-show press conference.

“Because if you think about it, John has been our Babe Ruth, our Superman. He is the guy you never, ever, ever, thought would turn in this way and he did. And it’s a big risk and it’s ballsy to do something like that and it’s gutsy and he put a lot of thought into it.”

The trio was loudly booed and Cena was showered in chants of “You sold out!”

The Peacemaker star will be a true heel for the first time in his 23-year career in WWE after a moment that will be compared to Hulk Hogan’s heel turn to join the nWo at WCW’s Bash at the Beach in 1996.

John Cena has flipped. Photo: X

The Rock is calling the shots. Photo: X

It's the moment that stunned the WWE. Photo: X

Cena pummelled the champion. Photo: X

Cena, 47, won the Chamber match by making CM Punk pass out on the STF to punch his ticket to WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas on April 19-20 for a match with Rhodes, the Undisputed WWE champion.

“When you get to a place in your career where you know you undoubtedly have months left on your career and your dream and the thing that launched you to the rest of world, to movie stardom, to everything else he has as in his life, it puts you in a different perspective and it puts you in a place where it’s now or never and you can ride that out and you can rest on the things that you have done and you couldn’t really blame John for doing that (if he did),” Triple H said. …

“Or someone like him can double down and say, ‘screw it I want to be challenged right to the last moment. I want to go out on my shield. I want to give everything I have. I want to challenge myself. I want to do something different. I want to be scared of it. I want to go out there and do it all.’ And that’s the beauty of John Cena.”

John Cena turned on Cody Rhodes. Photo: X

Things got real wild. Photo: X

Cena remained in the ring after winning the Chamber match as Rhodes came out to give Rock his answer to whether he would be the one selling his soul to “The Final Boss” and be given unlimited riches and fame.

Rhodes, WWE’s top babyface, told The Rock to “go f**k himself” because his soul belongs to the ring and the fans.

Cena, who has been a real-life mentor to Rhodes, then shook Rhodes’ hand and hugged him in what appeared to be a celebration of his rejection of The Rock.

Instead, the camera showed Cena’s face turn stern and sour while he looked at Rock.

The Final Boss then made the slit-his-throat motion and Cena then kicked Rhodes low.

“I felt like tonight stood by all of that, the iconic angles,” Rock said.

A vicious beat down ensued, and Cena punched Rhodes with the gold Rolex Rhodes was gifted by WWE’ Chief Content Officer Triple H and WWE CEO Nick Khan after his championship match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40 last year.

The Rock eventually whipped Rhodes with a custom weight belt that had the date of his father Dusty Rhodes’ death on it and rubbed the champ’s blood on it.

Cena has chosen his side, teaming with The Rock and Travis Scott. Photo: X

Rock acknowledged during the post-show press conference that Scott’s presence will likely lead to the rapper getting into a WWE ring for a match at some point. Scott, whose presence felt Dennis Rodman-like, even slapped Rhodes at one point.

The entire angle tied in Rock’s Bad Blood appearance, his graciousness to Rhodes at Raw’s Netflix premiere and the character shift in Cena after his Royal Rumble loss.

“The one thing I loved about tonight is that it was nowhere, because nobody knew,” Triple H said. “When I say nobody knew, nobody. Right before the finish of the Chamber, I said to the truck ‘everybody lay out, I have all traffic on what’s next’. It was a very tight circle of people.”

WWE will need to give a believable reason for Cena turning heel because he is nearly as famous in Hollywood as The Rock. A silent Cena simply dropped the mic at the post-show press conference.

It could be the fact that Cena hasn’t won a singles match since April 2018 and is running out of time to win world title No. 17.

Either way, WWE has completely flipped the dynamic and added some spice to Cena and Rhodes’ match at WrestleMania.

This story first appeared in the New York Post and was republished with permission.

Originally published as ‘You sold out’: WWE erupts as 23 years of history erased